Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 92 Entries. Saturday, April 3 View Page Welp, another winter has passed and another Spring has arrived, Time to start building the new 6x6 Hut for the newly expanded 840 SQFT patch, This year I will be starting 4 Plants 2 will go out May 1st 2 will be back ups, I will cull down to just one plant for the Patch. Seed Choices for 2010 are 1451.5 Sudin-09, 1057.5 Vader-04, 1269 Hunt-08, 925 Lyons-09. Saturday, April 17 View Page Dug out an 6 ft x 6ft x 6" deep pit today layed my 40 ft of heating cables then re filled my pit area and Built my 6x6 Greenhouse :-)... Next weekend seed starting time :-). Sunday, April 18 View Page Kaden Picked the 1269 Hunt 08 , So thats the seed I will be growing in my patch this year. Friday, April 23 View Page 1269 Hunt 08, 925 Lyons 09, 1330.5 Johnston- Butler 09, 1002 Sudin 09 started. Saturday, April 24 View Page Spread 25 lbs of Calcium Sulphate over the entire patch today and lightly raked it in, Also added Blood/Bone Meal to the grow area. Purchased a nice LA CROSSE TEHCNOLOGY indoor/ outdoor Thermometer came with a nice wireless sensor which I have put in the greenhouse it re updates the screen every 4 seconds to keep it up to date and works up to 330 ft away from the base. The current outside Temperature is at 51.2 F Inside the greenhouse its a steady 61.4 F a nice 10 degs warmer this is with just the heating cables in the ground turned on and with 6 buckets of water that collect the suns heat dureing the day, I also have a small ceramic heater which I will place inside once the plant is put out which will keep the air around 75. 1269 Hunt, 925 Lyons, 1130.5 Johnson- Butler, 1451.5 Vader all sprouted Plan on putting the 1269 Hunt and the 1330.5 Johnson outside in the greenhouse this week sometime let them both grow for a good 2 weeks then cull the weaker plant out. Tuesday, April 27 View Page Welp All Plants are up and ready to go!!... Friday April 30th is my planting date. In the ground will go the 1330.5 Johnson / Butler ( 985 Werner x 1161 Rodonis) and 925 Lyons 1689 Jutras x 985 werner) will cull down to Best plant growing May 15th. Thursday, April 29 View Page Long range weather forcast looking great so decided to plant today as this weekend looks to be bussy. In the ground is the 1269 Hunt 08 ( Right) and the 1330.5 Johnson- Butler 09 ( Left) Added a pinch of RTI to each hole then gave both plants a good deep drench of 24-8-6, Will cull down the best plant May 15th. Thursday, April 29 View Page My new La Crosse with wireless sensor, Keeps me up to date on the inside temp of my greenhouse, Had to Open up both sides of the hut this afternoon shortly after taking this picture as the temp quickly climbed from 69 F up to low 80's. Sunday, May 9 View Page Well its 0 ( 32 F) here in Kitchener and its SNOWING!! soil temp inside the greenhouse is 71F air temp is a nice 54.8 F.. Greenhouse is covered with a blanket and a large tarp I have 2 100 Watt heat lamps inside which keeps the air temp much warmer then 32 F..... ( look close in picture you will see a slight glow of red yup thats the greenhouse covered in blankets and tarps to keep the heat inside... next couple of days temps are suppose to be COLD... we have also had alot of rain and more to come this week my patch is already flooded bad we dont need more rain... inside the greenhouse the plants continue to grow well. Sunday, May 9 View Page 12.30 AM outside conditions SNOW and 32 F inside the Greenhouse a Nice 54.8F :-)... Sunday, May 9 View Page a High of 38 ( + 3 C) Today, Low tonight of 25 F ( -4 C) doubled up the blankets and tarps, 2 heat lamps are turned on ( have been on all day) soil heating cables on,, Soil is a nice 79 F today air temp of 65 F should be good for another night weather is looking to warm up after tonight ( I HOPE) I hope the soil is able to dry out a bit this week I plan on adding a yard of Mushroom compost and tilling in place before the plant outgrows the 6ftx6ft greenhouse...... Looks like the 1269 Hunt is going to be the plant for 2010 for such a slow germinating seed ( started same time as 1330.5 it hatched itself a week after the 1330.5 and its already twice the size... Wednesday, May 12 View Page Cut the 1330.4 Johnson/ Butler as it went double vined on me after the first true leaf the second leaf was thick stemed with 2 leafs on the top and a bunch of Tendrills, 1269 Hunt is the Plant for 2010...... Pictures to come Tuesday, May 18 View Page Nice to see all the rain and cold weather has finally past as it dipped down below -4 a few times, Here is a 2 weeks shot of my 1269 Hunt, starting to pick up now that the weather is nicer. Friday, May 21 View Page WOW its HOT, Had both ends of the hoop open today and a fan blowing and it was still able to hit a 102 inside the hoop house!! Gave the 1269 Hunt a Good deep soaking of 24-8-16 MG. Sunday, May 23 View Page Spread 5 lbs of Kelp meal over the patch and did my final " LIGHT TILL " of outside grow area, spread 2 bags of peatmoss then sprayed the entire patch with Mollases / Seaweed. THe 1269s main vine has landed and is now on the run ( at about a 1.5 ft lenght now ) with the HOT weather I have removed the front and rear plastics and I have a fan blowing on the plant seems to keep the temps inside around the 85 F mark. Dave Friday, May 28 View Page 1269 Hunt is coming along nice, The nose has just about reached the front door of the greenhouse at around the 5 ft mark, I can see the secondarys are starting to grow out on the underside Very nice plant the main vine is about 1" thick and the leafs are HUGE on this plant 2 of them measureing 24-27" across!! Gave the plant a Drenching yesterday of Seaweed / Mollases / Epsom . Saturday, May 29 View Page Is an Proud Member of Team Lunatic :-) Sunday, May 30 View Page Enlarged the hoop house to a little of 10 ft today. I measured the main of the 1269 Hunt today, Shes sitting at 7 ft 3", Removed the plastic from the upper portion keeping the lower portion covered for now to keep the wind down, Installed some very vine mesh over the top to keep the bugs and possibly hail out ( fingers crossed we dont ) Secondarys about a foot long and starting to take off, The 1269 Hunt was a SLOW starter but its now growing approx 8" a day. Thursday, June 3 View Page 1269 Hunts Main vine sitting at 10 ft mark today, Started removing the plastic from the sides to let the secondarys grow out as they really started to take off this week, Plant is looking great!! Started putting in 4 ft stakes for windbreak fence which will go up tomorrow Thursday, June 3 View Page Was able to get the 4 ft wind break installed and secured today, rest of the plastic is off the hoop house, am keeping a bit of plastic on top along with mesh around sides just in case we get some nasty heavy rain or hail over the next 24 hrs as the skys dont look too pretty right now. But ya the 1269 is free to run now i just need to get onto burrying my secondarys and main vine more. Friday, June 4 View Page Finally got most of my prep work done, plastic down netting up wind break up vines burried... Been applying a touch of Humic acid and Myco at each node, Will be pulling a leaf Sunday and sending it off to A & L Laboratories Monday for a quick check before Pollination just to make sure my plant has everything it needs. Friday, June 4 View Page :-) Monday, June 14 View Page The rain has finally come to an end!! After 2 weeks of on and off rain its nice to see the sun again!! Here is a shot of the 1269 Hunt at 15 ft a nice female around the 14.5 ft mark should be open around the 20-23rd. Thursday, June 17 View Page Got a call from the wife tonight around 9.30 pm telling me the winds had blown down my wind break fence around the patch in the backyard and the plants leafs were blowing about pretty good. YA JUST WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR!! I was tempted to leave work and come home to see the damage but I'm use to this kinda stuff now LOL.... So 1am comes around my shift ends I drive home turn the yard lights on turn my flash light on and walk out... YUP fence is down BUT the plant Looks OK :-) a few broken leafs here and there but other wise from what i can see shes 95% OK!!!! winds were STRONG tonight Sunday, June 20 View Page Patch finally starting to dry out some, was able to get in and burry some vines today, also noticed that the first 2 secondarys off the main vine JUST STOPED GROWING!! LOOKS LIKE THE ENDS JUST TURNED TO A BUNCH OF FLOWERS!! If anyone has experienced this let me know, seems like all growth is on the main vine and all of my older secondarys are stoping growth could this be caused by too much rain??? will they re start growing again? dunno never seen this before, leafs are starting to darken up again which is a good thing 2 weeks of heavy rain with the patch being wet wasnt good. Sunday, June 20 View Page Keeping her cool, should be open by end of week a nice female on the 1269 hunt around 15 ft out. I plan on terminating the main ( aft 20 ft) once this female is pollinated as i'll be running out of room in about 5 more feet. 23 1/3 ft from stump. Wednesday, June 23 View Page Foiler sprayed 1269 Hunt with Superman Monday, ( Thanks John V for the SuperMan and Phortress product), First female will be opening up Today ( Tuesday June 23rd) shes covered up nice and dry, I have 2 males pulled and in the kitchen will do the duties in the morning. Ive never had any luck with getting a female to take with soo much rain but hopefully she takes temps are right!! Friday, June 25 View Page 1269 Hunt, Sprayed with PHortess / seaweed this morning. Friday, June 25 View Page Female on the 1269 Hunt has doubled in size since pollination! Sunday, June 27 View Page 2 Pollinations completed. 1st one 16 ft out on main 1269 Hunt x Self. 2nd 6 ft out on a secondary 1269 Hunt x Self. 3rd one will be later this week and I am hoping to do an 1269 hunt x ( something else) LOL. I will have to see what Males John has availble when the time get closer, I have decided to keep the main vine slowly turning it 90 degs as its hit end of patch ( 25 ft mark) I will then 10 ft later do another 90 deg bed and allow the main to grow back towards the stump along side of the patch and I will grow only the inside secondarys inwards towards the plant to fill the patch in, Hopefully one of the 3 pollinations takes. I will spray the patch tomorrow morning with a Superman / seaweed / Kelp mix. Sunday, June 27 View Page My new Patch Guard " Rollie " A 3 year old Border Collie / Lab/ American Eskimo Mix, Such a great dog, I havent seen a Rabbit in the yard since Friday!! Normally there is 2 in yard everytime I head out to patch!! Wednesday, June 30 View Page Sprayed Superman / Kelp / Seaweed Mix Monday, Wednesday I will spray Photress / Saweed. Saturday, July 3 View Page Looks like I have an Nitrogen deficiency, Will toss in some Amonium sulphate 22-0-0 in the Am water it in and see if the plant greens up any over the next couple of days. Day 10 measurements arnt great shes small, I have another female opening up within a a day or 2 will pollinate her and see in another 20 days whos at a better rate. Wednesday, July 7 View Page WOW shes hot, The 1269 Hunt doesnt seem to mind this heat at all, the 750 SQ FT patch is almost filled in nice, I have turned the main and shes running back down towards the stump to fill the back area in. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Day 11 1269 Hunt x Self. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Vine Squash Borers were seen flying around the patch yesterday so I gave the plant a spray this monring :-). Friday, July 9 View Page FINALLY some rain!! a nice 10 mm of rain landed last night re filling my water supply and my garden with some well needed moisture!! The 1269 hunt is chugging alond FAST , I will start deadheading some secondarys as my patch is slowly running out of space for vine growth!! Long range forcast is looking like HEAT HEAT HEAT!! The fruit is loving it but my leafs are really taking a beating most of the older leafs are cripsy sunburnt around the edges. Wednesday, July 14 View Page 1269 Hunt Looking Great!! Very agressive plant!! Wednesday, July 14 View Page Day 20 = 71 3/4 " CC Growing FAST !! Sunday, July 18 View Page Day 23 232 OTT = 280 lbs :-) Tuesday, July 20 View Page Here we go....... First 29.4 LB Gain last night :-) Saturday, July 24 View Page Made a mistake in earlier post, at day 23 my fruit WAS NOT 280 lbs LOL dunno what happened there. Anyhow I did an Offical OTT measurement today and shes sitting at 241.5 inches OTT for an approx weight of 304 Lbs and Growing :-). Day 29 today. Will put of Day 30 Pictures sunday!! Sunday, July 25 View Page Day 30 252 OTT = 345 Lbs. Sunday, July 25 View Page HUGE A$$ Look at those streach marks!! Growing on average 7-8" per Night. Sunday, July 25 View Page 750 SQFT filled in,All vines includeing main deadheaded, Main vine was deadheaded at 45 ft as it grew out 25 ft then back in 20 ft and it was starting to tangle with the secondarys so i gave her the axe!!. weeds are filling in the rest like crazy, Id like to get in there and poke some holes in the soil around the vines to get some air into the soil as we have had ALLOT of rain the past 3 days and the soil is a bid mudpit. Friday, July 30 View Page Growth has slowed down a bit past 2 days as nights have been cooler with Lots of rain!! But shes still putting on a few inches every night :-), Leaving Saturday for a Fly In Fishing Trip for a week, Will Get measurements and pictures up when I arrive back home, Cant wait to see how much she grows while I am gone!!!, As of the other day she was sitting around 430 Lbs :-) Friday, August 6 View Page Day 42 1269 Hunt x self 289 " OTT = 505 Lbs.... Looks like shes going to be a nice dark Orange Friday, August 6 View Page 1269 Hunt X Self. Tall Sunflowers growing well in background!! Friday, August 6 View Page The glow on my sons face everytime he sees the pumpkin is priceless!! Friday, August 6 View Page Better shot!! Tuesday, August 10 View Page WOW she grew more then I had expected measured this afternoon C- 131 + 90 + 81 = 301 " OTT =583 LBS :-) Nice warm weather has arriced back in southern ontario, chopped off some secondarys last night to take the pressure off the fruit as we got ALLOT of rain over the past 24 hrs, Am hopeing for some good gains this week!! Saturday, August 14 View Page well I measured her today and shes still growing but very slow Day 50 = 310.5 OTT = 634 lbs :-) Nice Orange too!! Am going to apply some 0-0-30 Tomorrow evening and see if i can get the numbers up a bit. Sunday, August 15 View Page Hit her with some 0-0-30 today, Lets see if we can get the numbers up again :-), Plan on spreading some 10-10-10 bone meal around the patch tomorrow dureing the day. Thursday, August 19 View Page PM is starting to hit the patch hard, Been spraying every other day and have been keeping it at bay for about 2 weeks now, will continue to spray to slow down. Dave Monday, August 23 View Page Growth is still slow on big Orange, not sure whats going on, But looks like others are having the same issues as myself. Tall corn around 12-13 ft. Friday, August 27 View Page Well another hard lesson learned... Just because you dont see SVBS flying around the patch doesnt mean they ARNT there... while cleaning up around the patch today pulling out dead leaf I noticed a part of the main vine that looked like it was swelled up under further inspection I found sawdust so i pulled out my knife and started surgery I ended up pulling out an 1" long grub man I HATE SVBS I should have sprayed. Long story short I inspected further and in the end I pulled out 4 SVB larva applied Sulphur. :-( Hopefully she holds on for another 30 days and growth ahs come to an Halt. Tuesday, August 31 View Page still growing...:-)...BUT.... SLOOOOOW!!! LOL All and All I am happy with this years results I FINALLY GOT ME A GIANT!! Growing a bit better since I removed the vine squash maggots from the main vine Saturday, September 11 View Page BIG RED still chugging along :-) Sunday, September 12 View Page Me and my son Sunday, September 12 View Page Suflowers are massive Saturday, September 18 View Page Welp..... Sept 26th is a big day.. Its the day we are cutting "BIG RED" from the vine and loading her onto the trailer, ( Should be interesting Ive got 7 guys coming to help and Beer SO YA..... from there she will be kept nice and cool in the garage for 6 days then off to Port Elgin!... We purchased another home which we are moving into Sept 30th.. Yup a short shitty closing date but what can ya do... New house has much larger property + larger home :-) I already have plans for 2 plants next year as we have the space now :-)!! See ya all at Port Elgin... Sunday, September 26 View Page Trailer is beside BIG RED, Cutting her off the vine tomorrow and loading her onto the trailer to get ready for trip to Port Elgin, Plant is pretty much toast anyhow and growth has come to a stop so its time to pull her. Pictures to follow. Sunday, September 26 View Page First we got the truck in the back yard!! wasnt as easy as I thought it would be Sunday, September 26 View Page Then came the helpers Sunday, September 26 View Page first we tilted her upward layed tarp under her Sunday, September 26 View Page . Sunday, September 26 View Page Then the other way to get the entire tarp ( this was an 30x30 folded 3 times) Sunday, September 26 View Page Then we lifted her up Sunday, September 26 View Page and slowly walked Sunday, September 26 View Page almost there Sunday, September 26 View Page one more go.... Sunday, September 26 View Page and there she sits Sunday, September 26 View Page All set for Port Elgin, Just need to strap her down and off we go Saturday. Thanks goes out to John M, Geoff S, Dave Sr, Dave C, Shannon, Emma and others that came out to Help me get my pumpkin out of the patch and loaded onto the trailer. Friday, October 1 View Page Is all loaded up and ready for Port Elgin :-) Tuesday, October 5 View Page Well, I had Big Red at Port Elgin pumpkinfest for my FIRST weigh off on Saturday Oct 2nd, She weighed 501.8 lbs, Next years goal is to enter the 1000 lb mark :-), New location Better soil we will see what happens :-) Sunday, October 17 View Page Started Patch Prep today, Patch size 40x18, Lugged in 5 Yards of Mushroom compost this morning. Sunday, October 17 View Page Then I fired up the Honda and made several passes Sunday, October 17 View Page The soil here is NICE!!, Its all loose sandy soil very nice stuff :-), I have 3 yards of Cow poop being delivered this week from a friends dairy farm, The final till in will include the last 3 yards of Manure a 25 KG bag of Granular Humic and a 25 KG bag of Kelp and Tons of Maple Tree Leafs!!..... Tuesday, October 19 View Page 2010 Patch prep completed Added 5 more yards of Mushroom compost this afternoon, Total Manure = 18 yards, Added 50 lbs of Black Earth and 25 lbs of Kelp all tilled in. Now its time to let the soil do its work and hopefully I grow me a Big One Next year, Will do a soil test in the spring to see were I am am before planting. Thursday, October 21 View Page Port Elgin Up she goes... Thursday, October 21 View Page And.... Thursday, October 21 View Page 501.8 McQuay 10 1269 Hunt x Self Produced a nice dark redish orange Pumpkin, with better conditions this fruit would have been much larger. Thursday, October 21 View Page 501.8 McQuay 2010 1269 Hunt X Self. Wednesday, October 27 View Page Cut big red open the other day, nice and thick with a good amount of seeds, All ready for Halloween now, Ive had a few people asking about seeds already, If anyone else would like a few send me an e-mail I have plenty and I dont plan on growing them all. [email protected] Sunday, October 31 View Page HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! People LOVED my pumpkin display it was a Great night with lots of questions, I even gave out a bunch of seeds from the 501.8 Mcquay along with adress to www.GVGO.ca and www.bigpumkins.com LOTS of people were just crazy about how big it was!! It was SOO GREAT my display is even on the 11.30 NEWS!!! GOOD DEAL!! Sunday, October 31 View Page TOP 5 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS : 1. Is that REAL? YUP 2. Were did you get that? I GREW IT 3. WOW you grew that in your backyard ? YUP 4. What did you feed it? UNICORN HORNS.... lol 5. How heavy was it ? 501.8 lbs LOL its amazing the questions people ask you. Saturday, November 13 View Page Took another trip out to Morgans Mushroom farm today for another 5 yards of FREE Mushroom compost, Its about an hours drive from kitchener but well worth it!! Saturday, November 13 View Page The pile was steaming today!! Saturday, November 13 View Page Is 35 yards of this stuff TOO MUCH for an 800 sqft Patch ? Guess we are going to find out.... Man I cant wait till Next year, Got some good seeds coming my way, Thanks John M and Joel Jarvis. See everyone in the spring.... OH and Chris Ya that tree will be GONE before the plants hit the ground HA HA... Wednesday, November 17 View Page New 30 ft x 25 ft area = 750 sq ft should be good enough for one plant, Last fall I tilled this area and added approx 3 yards of composted Horse manure, peatmoss and leafs and then sprayed several times with mollases, patch is still pretty wet, most of you are probably wondering why the tarp is there, that was layed down while I was working building the greenhouse as the patch was pretty muddy. I'm thinking 2010 is going to be a great year... Friday I will let my 18 month old son Kaden pick this years seed he has 6 choices. The one he picks is the one that will be grown. Wednesday, November 17 View Page My son Kaden Helping with the Mushroom Compost!! Wednesday, November 17 View Page He LOVES Helping Dad in the patch... Every morning when he wakes up all we hear over the monitior is " Dadas Pumpkin" as his window overlooks the patch as I walk into his room all I see is him standing on end of bed looking out the window onto the patch = Priceless :-)!!